Tony Lip dies at 82; character actor known for mob roles

CaptionHarry Carey Jr.

Los Angeles Times

The son of silent-film western star Harry Carey Sr., Carey Jr. was a venerable character actor who was believed to be the last surviving member of director John Ford's legendary western stock company. His career spanned more than 50 years and included such Ford classics as "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" and "The Searchers." He was 91. Full obituaryNotable deaths of 2012

The son of silent-film western star Harry Carey Sr., Carey Jr. was a venerable character actor who was believed to be the last surviving member of director John Ford's legendary western stock company. His career spanned more than 50 years and included such Ford classics as "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" and "The Searchers." He was 91. Full obituaryNotable deaths of 2012 (Los Angeles Times)

The onetime headmistress of an elite girls' school fatally shot Dr. Herman Tarnower, her lover and the creator of the famous "Scarsdale Diet." The killing generated front-page headlines and national debates about whether she was a feminist martyr or vengeful murderer. She was 89. Full obituaryNotable deaths of 2012

The onetime headmistress of an elite girls' school fatally shot Dr. Herman Tarnower, her lover and the creator of the famous "Scarsdale Diet." The killing generated front-page headlines and national debates about whether she was a feminist martyr or vengeful murderer. She was 89. Full obituaryNotable deaths of 2012 (Ron Frehm / Associated Press)

Tony Lip, 82, a veteran character actor known for playing mob roles on "The Sopranos" television show and in films, died Friday at a hospital in Teaneck, N.J. Family members told New Jersey's Record newspaper that Lip, a resident of Paramus, N.J., had been in failing health in recent years.

While best known for playing mob kingpin Carmine Lupertazzi in "The Sopranos" on HBO from 2001 to 2007, Lip also had roles in movies including "The Godfather," "Goodfellas" and "Donnie Brasco."

He was born Frank Anthony Vallelonga in Beaver Falls, Pa., in 1930 and grew up in an Italian neighborhood in the Bronx. According to family lore, he was called Lip from age 8 because he could out-talk all others.

"Even my mother, Dolores, didn't know his name was Frank until they had to make up their wedding invitations back in 1958," Lip's son Nick Vallelonga told the Record in 2003.

Lip became his stage name when he started getting acting parts.

Before his acting career, he had played minor-league baseball, served in the Army and worked in a variety of jobs, including hairdresser to the Rockettes. The GI Bill paid for that training.

Lip also worked at the famed Copacabana club in Manhattan during the 1960s and met numerous celebrities of the era, including singers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat "King" Cole and Bobby Darin, as well as the kind of gangsters he would later portray.

In 2006 Lip and coauthor Steven Prigge published "Shut Up and Eat! Mangia With the Stories and Recipes From Your Favorite Italian-American Stars."